voxover 1.x Manual by Matthew Foust and Evan Olcott Copyright 2007 Audiofile Engineering, LLC

voxover 1.x Manual Matthew Foust, Audiofile Engineering, LLC <mf@audiofile-engineering.com> Evan Olcott, Audiofile Engineering, LLC <ev@audiofile-engineering.com>

voxover 1.x Manual by Matthew Foust and Evan Olcott Copyright 2007 Audiofile Engineering, LLC

Table of Contents 1. Introduction... 1 2. Licenses... 2 3. Preferences... 6 General... 6 Document... 7 Output... 8 Network... 9 4. Menus... 10 voxover Menu... 10 File Menu... 11 Edit Menu... 12 View Menu... 13 Session Menu... 13 Window Menu... 14 Help Menu... 14 5. Main Window... 15 Toolbar... 15 Section List... 17 The Contents Table... 17 Lines Tab... 18 Takes Tab... 19 Inspector... 19 Renamer... 20 6. Script Recorder... 22 7. Using voxover... 24 Create a Session... 24 Session Properties... 24 Create A Script... 26 Writing a Script... 26 Importing a Script... 26 Configure Section Settings... 35 Recording... 36 Taking... 37 Take Naming... 38 Run The Script... 38 Accessing Sessions Remotely... 38 Manage and Export Takes... 40 General... 40 Renaming... 40 Exporting Takes... 41 8. Keyboard Shortcuts... 49 9. Help Desk... 53 Documentation... 53 Tutorials... 54 Software Update... 55 Release Notes... 56 Licenses... 56 Support... 57 iv

List of Figures 2.1. Trial Period Dialog... 2 2.2. Trial Period Expired... 2 2.3. Help Desk > Licenses... 3 2.4. Enter License Key... 4 2.5. License Key Added... 5 3.1. General Preferences... 6 3.2. Document Preferences... 7 3.3. Output Preferences... 8 3.4. Network Preferences... 9 4.1. voxover Menu... 10 4.2. File Menu... 11 4.3. Edit Menu... 12 4.4. View Menu... 13 4.5. Session Menu... 13 4.6. Help Menu... 14 5.1. Main Window... 15 5.2. Toolbar... 15 5.3. Customize Toolbar... 16 5.4. Toolbar > Contextual Menu... 16 5.5. Section List... 17 5.6. Lines Tab... 18 5.7. Lines Tab > Configure Columns... 18 5.8. Takes Tab... 19 5.9. Takes Tab > Configure Columns... 19 5.10. Inspector... 20 5.11. Renamer... 21 6.1. Script Recorder... 22 6.2. Script Recorder > Inputs Drawer... 23 6.3. Script Recorder > Meters... 23 7.1. Inspector > Document > Info... 24 7.2. Inspector > Document > Talent... 25 7.3. Inspector > Document > Characters... 25 7.4. Import Delimited Text: Dialog... 27 7.5. Import Delimited Text: Assign Columns... 28 7.6. Import Delimited Text: Columns Assigned... 29 7.7. Import Delimited Text: Success!... 30 7.8. Import Raw Text: Dialog... 31 7.9. Import Raw Text: Select Text... 32 7.10. Import Raw Text: Assign Text... 33 7.11. Import Raw Text: Text Assigned... 34 7.12. Import Raw Text: Success!... 35 7.13. Import VoicePro format... 35 7.14. Inspector > Sections > Recording... 36 7.15. Inspector > Sections > Taking... 37 7.16. Inspector > Sections > Take Naming... 38 7.17. Available Sessions... 39 7.18. Teleprompter... 40 7.19. Renamer... 41 7.20. Export Dialog... 42 7.21. Export > Takes... 43 7.22. Export > Audio... 44 v

voxover 1.x Manual 7.23. Export > File Name... 7.24. Export Presets > Save As...... 7.25. Name a Preset... 7.26. Export with a new Preset... 8.1. Keyboard Shortcuts... 8.2. Keyboard Shortcuts > Modify... 8.3. Keyboard Shortcuts > Assign... 8.4. Keyboard Shortcuts > Assigned... 8.5. Keyboard Shortcuts > Search... 9.1. Help Desk > Documentation... 9.2. Help Desk > Tutorials... 9.3. Help Desk > Software Update... 9.4. Help Desk > Release Notes... 9.5. Help Desk > Licenses... 9.6. Help Desk > Support > New Request... 9.7. Help Desk > Support > Attach Files... 9.8. Help Desk > Support > Active Requests... vi 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Chapter 1. Introduction What is voxover? voxover is a truly unique and modern voice-over automation utility and batch-recorder for multimedia, video game, and telephone voice-response production. Designed in Cocoa from the ground up, voxover proudly takes advantage of CoreAudio, Quartz, and other advanced Mac OS X features. voxover manages a voice-over session from beginning to end, from writing or importing and organizing a Script to batch exporting the final audio files in a relevant format. Where previous attempts at such an application have fallen short, voxover excels. voxover does not require you to learn a proprietary mark-up language. It allows for complex scripted and fully-automated Sessions to quick, scriptless Sessions. voxover's one-of-a-kind Teleprompter is available to other computers running voxover on your network via Bonjour. Because you can access voxover Sessions across a network, it does not require multiple displays. 1

Chapter 2. Licenses When you first launch voxover, you will be presented with the dialog below. Figure 2.1. Trial Period Dialog voxover will run in trial mode for 15 days. During the trial period, the application is fully functioning. PLEASE NOTE, do not click the "Start Trial" button unless you are absolutely sure that you want to begin the trial. Once you've started the trial mode, you cannot pause it. If you do not wish to start the trial mode immediately, click the "Demo" button. This will allow you to explore the application and write scripts, but not record them. If you do wish to start the trial mode, simply click the "Start Trial" button. When the trial period has expired, you will see the dialog pictured below. At this point, you must add a license or choose demo mode. In order to use voxover with full functionality after the trial period, you must purchase a license key. Figure 2.2. Trial Period Expired To enter a license key, choose "Licenses" from the Help menu or click the "Licenses" button on the toolbar in the Help Desk. 2

Licenses Figure 2.3. Help Desk > Licenses If you have not yet purchased a license for voxover, click the "Buy Licenses..." button to launch your default browser and load our online store. To add a license for voxover, click "Add License..." button. Enter your Owner name and license key, then click the "Add" button. Licenses are activated via the Internet. If you do not have Internet access, you must contact us via web, email, or phone for instructions on how to activate your license. Phone support for activation is available only in the United States and Canada. International users must contact us via email at support@audiofile-engineering.com or via the web at http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/support. 3

Licenses Figure 2.4. Enter License Key Once you have successfully added a license, it will be displayed in the License pane. To remove a license, simply select it in the list and click the "Remove License" button. 4

Licenses Figure 2.5. License Key Added Moving Licenses (IMPORTANT!) You must remove your license if you wish to move it to another computer. 5

Chapter 3. Preferences To open voxover's Preferences window, choose "Preferences" from the voxover menu. Here, you may configure global settings for the application. General Figure 3.1. General Preferences On startup: This preference allows you to choose what voxover does on startup. Options are Create a new document Open a document Recall the previous document Open the session browser Do nothing Suppress registration alerts Check this option if you wish to use voxover to simply write scripts to be executed later on a licensed computer. 6

Preferences Document Figure 3.2. Document Preferences New Group Defaults Set the default name prefix and the default number of Sections in new Groups. New Section Defaults Set the default name prefix and the default number of empty Lines in new Sections. Show warning when removing items Check this option if you wish to suppress warnings when removing Groups, Sections or Lines. 7

Preferences Output Figure 3.3. Output Preferences This pane allows you to configure audio output for voxover. Select your desired audio output via the Audio Output menu. You are able to control which outputs receive playback and pops. Use the "Pop volume" slider to adjust the pop volume. Click the Pop button to test your volume setting. Select "Pop during remote sessions" if you want to send pops to voxover client sessions. 8

Preferences Network Figure 3.4. Network Preferences Network You may choose whether or not to publish your voxover session via Bonjour. The default is "On". Port number Choose the port number on which your voxover sessions are broadcast. Network name Displays the name of your voxover session as it will be broadcast on your network. This is your computer name as configured in the File Sharing preference pane in System Preferences. Open Network Sharing... Opens the File Sharing preference pane in System Preferences. 9

Chapter 4. Menus voxover Menu Figure 4.1. voxover Menu About voxover Displays the "About Box" which contains the application version and build numbers as well as acknowledgements. Sessions... Opens the Session browser which displays all of the available voxover sessions on your network. Preferences... Opens the Preferences window. Keyboard Shortcuts Opens the Keyboard Shortcuts pane. The remainder of this menu contains standard Mac OS X options. 10

Menus File Menu Figure 4.2. File Menu New Create a new voxover document. Open... Presents the standard Open dialog where you may choose a voxover document to open. Open Recent A list of most recently opened voxover files. Close Closes the frontmost document. If the document has changed and is unsaved, voxover prompts you to save the changes. Save Saves the current state of the file to disk. This option is only available if the document has been saved previously or was opened from a file on disk. Save As... Presents the standard Save panel where you may choose the name and location for the document. Options for the specific file type are presented as needed. Revert Reverts the frontmost file (if it is "dirty") to the most recent saved state of the document. Compact... Reduces the size of the voxover by removing unused audio (for example, deleted takes). 11

Menus Edit Menu Figure 4.3. Edit Menu Undo and Redo Undo/redo actions in the current document. There is no limit to Undo/Redo in voxover. Cut Places selected items on the Pasteboard and removes them from the document. Copy Places selected items on the Pasteboard. Paste Places selected items from the Pasteboard into the document. Delete Removes selected items from the document. Select All Selects all the items in a particular area of a document. 12

Menus View Menu Figure 4.4. View Menu Show Lines/Takes Toggles view of the Lines and Takes tabs in the Contents table Show Inspector Toggles view of the Inspector Show Renamer Toggles view of the Renamer Show/Hide Toolbar Toggles view of the Toolbar Customize Toolbar Reveals the Customize Toolbar sheet Session Menu Figure 4.5. Session Menu 13

Menus Add Group Add a Group in the Section List (hold down the Option key to add multiple Groups) Add Groups... Add multiple Groups in the Section List Add Section Add a Section in the Section List (hold down the Option key to add multiple Sections) Add Sections... Add multiple Sections in the Section List Section Settings... Opens the Section Settings dialog Add Line Add a Line to the current Section (hold down the Shift key to add multiple Lines) Import Script... Opens the Import Script dialog which allows you to import a Script from a text file Rename Takes... Reveals the Rename Takes sheet Export Takes... Reveals the Export Takes sheet Run Opens the Recorder window and readies the current script for recording Window Menu This is the standard Mac OS X Window menu. Help Menu Figure 4.6. Help Menu This menu presents options for our one-of-a-kind Help Desk. The Help Desk is covered in Chapter 9. 14

Chapter 5. Main Window Figure 5.1. Main Window voxover's main window consists of the Toolbar (top), the Section List (left) and the Contents Table (right). Toolbar voxover has a familiar Mac OS X-style Toolbar. You may hide the Toolbar in the View menu. Customizing the Toolbar is simple. You may either select "Customize Toolbar..." from the View menu or control/right click the tool bar and choose "Customize Toolbar..." from the contextual menu. A subset of customization options are also available in the contextual menu. Figure 5.2. Toolbar 15

Main Window Figure 5.3. Customize Toolbar Add items to the Toolbar by dragging items from the sheet to the Tool bar. Remove items from the Toolbar by dragging them off of the Toolbar. You may also control/right-click on an item and choose "Remove Item" from the contextual menu. Figure 5.4. Toolbar > Contextual Menu 16

Main Window Section List Figure 5.5. Section List The Section list is a hierarchical listing of all of the Groups, Sections and Lines in a voxover session. Here, you may organize your voxover session into manageable chunks. The checkboxes on the left determine which lines will be recorded when the session is run. Selecting a line shows just the one line in the Contents table. Selecting a Section shows all of the Lines in that section in the Contents table. Selecting a Group shows all of the Lines contained in that Group. The Contents Table The Contents Table is where you view Lines and Takes. It consists of the Lines tab and the takes Tab. 17

Main Window Lines Tab Figure 5.6. Lines Tab The Lines tab is very easy to use. It displays the Lines based on the current selection in the Section List. You may edit the Line name, choose the Character for a Line and edit the Copy. Use the "+" and "-" in the upper right hand corner to add and remove lines respectively. Copy may be edited in-line or in the split pane at the bottom. You may configure view of the columns via the pop-up menu at the upper right of the pane. Figure 5.7. Lines Tab > Configure Columns 18

Main Window Takes Tab Figure 5.8. Takes Tab The Takes tab displays all of the takes in the session. Managing takes is very straightforward. Use the "-" button to delete takes or simply select takes and press the "Delete" key. Rating takes is as easy as clicking the desired position in the "Rating" column. You may configure view of the columns via the pop-up menu at the upper right of the pane. Figure 5.9. Takes Tab > Configure Columns Inspector 19

Main Window Figure 5.10. Inspector Renamer 20

Main Window Figure 5.11. Renamer 21

Chapter 6. Script Recorder Figure 6.1. Script Recorder The Script Recorder is presented when you run a session via the "Run" button in the tool bar, command-r, or "Run" in the Session menu. Click the "Inputs" button to configure your audio device to route audio into voxover. 22

Script Recorder Figure 6.2. Script Recorder > Inputs Drawer In the Inputs drawer, select the deisred audio device in the "Device:" pop-up menu. Use the checkboxes to select inputs. Each input has a signal and clip indicator. Click the "Configure..." button to open the configuration utility for the selected audio device. Click the "Start" button to start recording a Session. Click "Start Take" to start a take. Use this if your Section is configured such that Takes must be started manually or you wish to start a Take earlier than configured in Section Settings. Click the "Redo Take" button to clear the current Take and record it again. Figure 6.3. Script Recorder > Meters The meters show the sum of the incoming audio via a VU meter, a digital level meter and a continuous waveform display. When you are finished, click the "Done" button. 23

Chapter 7. Using voxover Using voxover is quite simple. 1. Create a new Session docuement and configure its properties 2. Create or import a Script 3. Configure Section settings for recording 4. Run the Script 5. Manage and export Takes Create a Session To create a new Session, simply select New in the File menu or type command-n. We highly recommend saving your file immediately. Session Properties To configure the properties of a Session document, click the "Inspector" button in the Toolbar or select "Show Inspector" from the View menu (option-command-i) and click the "Document" tab. Figure 7.1. Inspector > Document > Info Enter the Engineer, Client, Session name, and Due Date in the Info tab. 24

Using voxover Figure 7.2. Inspector > Document > Talent Figure 7.3. Inspector > Document > Characters Use the "+" and "-" buttons to add or remove Talent names and Character names. You may configure the color associated with a Character by clicking on the small color box next to the Character's name. Use the Color Inspector to choose the desired color. Note At this time, Talent names are not linked to Characters. 25

Using voxover Create A Script Writing a Script Once you have configure the Session Properites, it is time to create a script. voxover does not require you to write or import a script. The minimum requirement is a single section with a single line (we call this a "scriptless" Session). Organize your script logically using Groups and Sections. Configure defaults for new Groups and Sections in the Documents section of the voxover Preferences. To add a Group, select Add Group from the Session menu (command-g). To add multiple Groups, select Add Groups... from the Session menu (shift-command-g). To add a Section, select Add Section from the Session menu (command-y). To add multiple Sections, select Add Sections... from the Session menu (shift-command-y). To add a Line, select Add Line from the Session menu (command-l). To add multiple Lines, select Add Lines... from the Session menu (shift-command-l). To edit the name of Group, Section or Line, double-click the name in the Section List. You may also edit a Line name by double-clicking the Name in the Line tab. Selecting a single line in the Section List displays only that line in Lines tab. Selecting a Section displays all Lines in that Section in the Lines tab. Selecting a Group displays all of the Lines contained in all of the Sections contained in that Group. Multiple selections are allowed. Choose a Character for a Line via the Character pop-up menu in the Lines tab. You may edit Copy for a Line by double-clicking in the Copy section of the line or by selecting the Line and using the split-pane at the bottom of the Lines tab. Copy, Cut and Paste are fully supported. Importing a Script You may also import a script from raw text (Rich or Plain), delimited text (tab or comma) or Voice Pro formatted text. Scripts may be written in an application such as Apple's TextEdit.app or applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel. voxover does not directly import proprietary file formats. If you create a script in an application such as Excel, you must export the text as tab or comma delimited text. To import a Script, select "Import Lines..." from the Session menu (shift-command-i). 26

Using voxover Delimited Text Figure 7.4. Import Delimited Text: Dialog To import delmited text, select "Table Format" in the dialog box, choose the desired file and click the "Open" button. 27

Using voxover Figure 7.5. Import Delimited Text: Assign Columns Choose your delimiter in the pop-up menu at the bottom center, and assign columns accordingly. voxover will automatically recognize and assigne columns if you create a script with a header row using the predefined Column types: Group Section Copy Name Character Talent 28

Using voxover Figure 7.6. Import Delimited Text: Columns Assigned When you have selected your columns, click the "Import" button. Columns that have not been assigned will be discarded. 29

Using voxover Figure 7.7. Import Delimited Text: Success! 30

Using voxover Raw Text Figure 7.8. Import Raw Text: Dialog To import raw text, choose "Select text manually" in the dialog box, choose the desired file and click the "Open" button. voxover will present our unique raw text importer. 31

Using voxover Figure 7.9. Import Raw Text: Select Text To assign Lines: 1. select a Character in the pop-up menu at the top of the window 2. select a destination Section i the pop-up at the bottom of the window 3. select the text you wish to assign to the Character 4. click the "Assign" button (command-a) 5. when finished, click the "Import" button 32

Using voxover Figure 7.10. Import Raw Text: Assign Text Assigned text will take on the color associated with the chosen Character. 33

Using voxover Figure 7.11. Import Raw Text: Text Assigned Imported text will appear as strikethrough. 34

Using voxover Figure 7.12. Import Raw Text: Success! VoicePro-Formatted Text Figure 7.13. Import VoicePro format voxover can instantly import text text files created for VoicePro and VoicePro X. Simply select "VoicePro format" in the Import dialog and select the file you wish to import. VoicePro formatted text files are plain text files (RTF is not valid) formatted as such: <filename001><tab><dialog><cr> Note voxover will automatically import Voice Pro scripts that were created using custom delimiters. Configure Section Settings Once you have written or imported a Script, it is time to configure the Section settings. These settings configure how voxover behaves when recording a script. 35

Using voxover Recording Figure 7.14. Inspector > Sections > Recording When "Automatically keep take if there is no audio..." is selected, the Script Recorder will automatically keep a Take (and move to the next) after a certain amount of silence as defined in the Setup tab. "Changing the line during recording will..." defines what the Script Recorder does if the engineer moves to a new line while another is being recorded. Your choices are to keep the take or ignore and discard it. 36

Using voxover Taking Figure 7.15. Inspector > Sections > Taking "After recording a successful take..." defines what the Script Recorder does after a take is recorded. The first option is to automatically move the next line after a defined number of successful takes. The second is to continue on the same line until the engineer selects the next line in the Script Recorder. Clicking "Save the document" will force voxover to save the Session after each successful take. "After completeing a take..." defines what the Script Recorder does after an individual take is completed. The first option is a pause defined by the value (in seconds) entered in the text box. The second option pauses the Script until the engineer clicks the "Start Take" or "Redo Take" buttons in the Script Recorder. 37

Using voxover Take Naming Figure 7.16. Inspector > Sections > Take Naming voxover provides for very extensive and powerful take naming based on tokens. Simply enter the desired expression as a combination of tokens in the text box. Click "Use as defaults" if you wish to keep the expression as the default setting for subsequent Sessions. Run The Script To Run a Session, click the "Run" button in the tool bar (command-r) or "Run" in the Session menu. The Script Recorder will open. Click the "Start" button to begin recording. Only Lines, Sections and Groups that are checked in the Section List will be recorded. The Script will run according to how you configured the settings for each Section. Accessing Sessions Remotely voxover does not require a second display. Any other computer on the network that has voxover installed on it can access a Session remotely via Bonjour. You may also access a session locally on the host computer. To access a Session, select "Sessions..." from the voxover menu (command-f). 38

Using voxover Figure 7.17. Available Sessions Select the desired Session and click the "Open" button. If your computer does have multiple displays, select the desired monitor for display via the pop-up menu at the bottom of the window. Once you have selected an available Session, you will see the Teleprompter as it appears in the Script Recorder on the host computer. You may scroll the Teleprompter up and down by pressing the Command key while dragging. The cursor will change from a pointer to a hand. 39

Using voxover Figure 7.18. Teleprompter When the Session is running on the host computer, the remote Teleprompter will highlight the current line for the voice talent viewing the Session. When Takes are complete for a line, it will move to the next. To exit the Teleprompter, simply press the "Esc" key. Manage and Export Takes General Managing takes is very straighforward. You may rename a Take by double-clicking its name in the Takes tab. Rate takes by clicking the dot in the desired position in the Rating column. Click the "Keep" checkbox for takes you know you want to keep. Rearrange columns by clicking and holding the column header and dragging it to the desired location. Renaming voxover allows for extensive and powerful renaming of Takes. To rename takes, click the "Renamer" button in the Toolbar or select "Show Renamer" from the View menu (option-command-r). 40

Using voxover Figure 7.19. Renamer Enter the desired expression into the text box using characters and available tokens. Numbering is configured in the "Number" section. The "Takes" section defines which takes in the current Session will be renamed. Click the "Rename" button after configuring your parameters. Click "Save as default" to save the rename settings for the Session. Exporting Takes Once you have recorded takes, you may export them at any time. 41

Using voxover Figure 7.20. Export Dialog voxover allows you to define what takes are exported. It will also automatically trim and pad and set the file format and bit range of the resultant files. voxover will gracefully handle file naming in the case your destination contains files with the matching names. As of version 1.1.0, you may save presets for exporting Takes by clicking the "Options" button in the Export dialog. 42

Using voxover Export Options Figure 7.21. Export > Takes Configure which Takes will be exported in the Takes tab. 43

Using voxover Figure 7.22. Export > Audio The Audio tab contains options for the resultant file format and bit range. It also allows you to automatically trim or pad Takes. 44

Using voxover Figure 7.23. Export > File Name The File Name tab contains voxover's powerful renaming options as well as options for gracefully handling duplicate file names. Saving Presets Once you have configured your export options, you may save the current configuration as a Preset. 45

Using voxover Figure 7.24. Export Presets > Save As... To save your preset, choose "Save As..." from the Presets menu. 46

Using voxover Figure 7.25. Name a Preset Now, name your Preset in the sheet. 47

Using voxover Figure 7.26. Export with a new Preset Your Preset will now be avaliable in the pop-up menu in the Export dialog. 48

Chapter 8. Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts allows you to customize all key commands within voxover. This includes all available menu commands as well as Take and Recorder shortcuts. Figure 8.1. Keyboard Shortcuts To open Keyboard Shortcuts, choose Keyboard Shortcuts from the Window menu. In this pane, you may navigate the collections of shortcuts and their key equivalents. 49

Keyboard Shortcuts Figure 8.2. Keyboard Shortcuts > Modify To change a shortcut, double click an item in the list. A sheet is displayed prompting you to assign a keyboard shortcut for that item. To remove a shortcut, click "Clear". When finished, click "OK". 50

Keyboard Shortcuts Figure 8.3. Keyboard Shortcuts > Assign Figure 8.4. Keyboard Shortcuts > Assigned voxover allows you to save your Keyboard Shortcuts as sets. You may save as many sets as you wish and they are portable. You may save your Keyboard Shortcuts via the widget menu in the lower left-hand corner. Choose "Save..." and choose the desired location. Choose "Load..." to load a saved Keyboard Shortcuts file. Keyboard Shortcuts are searchable. Simply type in the search field at the bottom of the window to find a desired shortcut. 51

Keyboard Shortcuts Figure 8.5. Keyboard Shortcuts > Search 52

Chapter 9. Help Desk voxover is the second application to integrate our revolutionary Help Desk. This is an entirely new approach to customer support and we believe it will revolutionize Mac OS X software. Our goal is to bring all educational and support content, release notes, software update and issue tracking into single window WITHIN the application. All of this content is, of course, available on our website. The Help Desk simply makes it much readily accessible. Documentation Figure 9.1. Help Desk > Documentation This pane displays the current version of the voxover manual. We will be providing documentation in three formats: PDF, online HTML, and a downloadable HTML bundle. You may also choose to be notified when the documentation is updated. To download documentation, choose your desired format and click the "Download" button. Click "View Online" button if you wish to view the manual on directly on our website. We have created our manuals to be "living" documents. Our manuals, in all formats, are created dynamically from a single XML document. This means that they will updated constantly and in real time. If you wish to be notified when the manual is updated, check "Notify me of documentation updates" at the bottom of the pane. 53

Help Desk Tutorials Figure 9.2. Help Desk > Tutorials The Tutorials pane shows a current list of all video tutorials available for voxover. To download a tutorial to your computer, click the "Download" button. To stream it in your default web browser, click the "Stream" button. All of our tutorials will be in Podcast format (and in the future will be available via the Podcast section of itunes), so you may take them with you on your ipod. Select "Notify me of new tutorials" if you wish to be notified when new tutorials are posted. 54

Help Desk Software Update Figure 9.3. Help Desk > Software Update The Software Update pane allows you to configure how and when voxover checks for updates. Select "At startup" if you want voxover to check for updates every time you launch it. You may also configure voxover to check Daily, Weekly, or Monthly selecting the check box and making a choice in the pop-up menu. Click the "Check Now" button if you wish to check for updates immediately. 55

Help Desk Release Notes Figure 9.4. Help Desk > Release Notes You may view release notes for the currently installed version, most recent version, and previous versions of voxover via the pop-up menu. Licenses The Licenses pane lists all active licenses for voxover. Managing licenses is covered in Chapter 2. 56

Help Desk Figure 9.5. Help Desk > Licenses Support The Support pane allows you to submit and track Help Desk tickets, right in voxover. Upon first launch, the Help Desk will fill in contact information using your "Me" entry in Address Book. You may change this information for any reason at any time. The information is attached to tickets that you submit and is also used to track issues. 57

Help Desk Figure 9.6. Help Desk > Support > New Request To submit a request, click the "New Request" tab, fill in the requested information (email address and category are required), and select what information you would like to submit with the ticket. You are not required to send a system profile or crash log. Only submit this information if you feel comfortable doing so, keeping in mind that it is very helpful for troubleshooting. You may also attach any relevant files (10 MB limit). When you have completed your request, simply click the "Submit" button. 58

Help Desk Note When submitting a system profile, voxover uses the "basic" detail level. For more information on this, please read the system_profiler man page [http://developer.apple.com/ DOCUMENTATION/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/system_profiler.8.html]. Figure 9.7. Help Desk > Support > Attach Files To track a request, click the "Active Requests" tab. Requests are tracked via the email address attached to the request. Make sure the email address is correct. Click the "Find" button and the Help Desk will display all your current requests. If you wish to search closed requests, click "Show closed" next to the "Request #" pop-up menu. 59

Help Desk Figure 9.8. Help Desk > Support > Active Requests You may update your requests directly in this window as well. To do so, enter your response in the lower text entry box, attach any relevant files, submit the crash log, and click the "Respond" button. 60